She handed me the latest copy of the Harding Herald. I grabbed it eagerly and lowered my eyes to the bottom of the front page.
Yes. There it was. In tiny type across the whole bottom margin. My message.
Except it had been changed a little.
I moved my lips, reading it softly to myself:
“Calling All Creeps. Calling All Creeps. If you’re a real Creep, call Ricky after midnight.” Then it gave my phone number.
My phone number. Not Tasha’s.
My name and number.
I let out a low moan and weakly handed the paper back to Iris.
She shook her head and tsk-tsked. “You look terrible. Did you get any sleep at all?” she asked.
“No,” I murmured.
I grabbed the newspaper back and read it again. “How did this happen?” I cried.
Tasha’s grinning face flashed into my mind.
“Tasha!” I screamed her name. And then I took off, pushing my way through groups of kids, hurtling over someone’s backpack.
I ran down the long, curving hall to the eighth-grade classrooms. And burst into Tasha’s room just as the early bell rang.
My eyes frantically swept the room. I spotted her near the front, handing a notebook to another girl.
“Tasha—” I called, running up to her. I waved the newspaper in her face. “I—I—” I sputtered breathlessly.
She tossed back her red curls and laughed. “I caught your little joke just in time,” she said. “Did you get any calls last night, Ricky?”
“A few,” I muttered angrily.
The whole class burst out laughing at me. Even the teacher.
All morning, I had the feeling that everyone was watching me. Laughing at me. Maybe I imagined it. Maybe I didn’t.
I kept thinking about the calls I’d received the night before. I knew they were all from kids at school. But why were they saying such strange things?
I saw your instructions…
I’m ready to plant. Ready to rule.
When will the Creeps meet?
At lunch, I carried my tray toward the back corner of the lunchroom. I didn’t feel like eating with anyone. I didn’t feel like hearing more jokes, more kids laughing at me.
I had to walk past the table where my four seventh-grade enemies always sit.
Uh-oh, I thought. Wart and David were squirting their milk cartons at each other. Brenda laughed so hard, chocolate milk ran out of her nose.
They see me. I’m going to get a milk shower, I realized. Too late to go the other way.
To my shock, I passed right by the table without getting splashed or hit by anything. Wart didn’t call out any nasty jokes. David and Jared didn’t try to trip me.
What’s going on? I wondered as I hurried to the far corner of the room. I know they saw me.
Why didn’t they chant “Sicky Ricky” and toss their drink cartons at me the way they always do? They let me pass by as if they didn’t know me.
I slid my tray across the back table. No one ever sits in that corner. It’s next to the furnace duct. Hot air blows out over the table while you eat.
I had picked up a sandwich of some kind of lunchmeat and a bowl of tomato soup. I tilted my chair back against the wall and sat chewing on the sandwich, watching the other kids.
Waiting. Waiting for someone to come over and make a joke about how my tomato soup looked like clotted blood. Or make a joke about all the calls I got after midnight.
Waiting for kids to start chanting “Sicky Ricky.” Or for Wart or one of my other pals at his table to start throwing food at me.
But no.
No one paid any attention to me. I leaned back and ate my lunch in peace.
I finished the soup and half the sandwich. I had picked up a bowl of chocolate pudding for dessert. But the crust was too thick to force my spoon through.
I gathered up my tray and stood up to leave.
And someone hit me in the forehead with a wadded-up piece of paper.
“Hey—!” I called out angrily. But secretly I felt glad. I mean, I just didn’t feel normal going a whole lunch hour without anyone getting on my case.
Rubbing my forehead, I glanced down at the paper. And realized it had writing on it. A note. Someone had passed me a note.
I unfolded it and quickly read the scribbled words:
When will the Creeps meet?
15
I glanced around the room, trying to see who tossed the note to me. But no one seemed to be looking at me. Wart and his three friends were pushing in their chairs, carrying their trays to the tray deposit window.
Did one of them throw it? I wondered.
I read the note again, folded it up, and shoved it into my jeans pocket. Then I carried my tray to the window and hurried out of the lunch room.
I bumped into Iris in the hall. “What’s up?” she asked.
I shrugged. “More Creeps,” I told her. “They seem to be following me.” I sighed. “I guess I asked for it.”
“I told you I had a bad feeling about that joke of yours,” Iris replied. “No way Tasha was going to let you get away with it.”
“Don’t rub it in,” I murmured unhappily. “If kids start calling me again tonight, my parents will go totally ballistic. I’ll lose my phone for sure.”
“Maybe you should take it off the hook when you go to bed,” Iris suggested.
Smart. Iris is very smart, I realized. I’m not sure I would have thought of that.
I led the way upstairs. Lockers were banging all around us. Kids were shoving in coats, pulling out books and notebooks, jamming stuff into their backpacks. It was almost time for the bell to ring.
Iris stopped at her locker and turned to me. Her cheeks suddenly had pink circles on them. “Would you do me a favor?” she asked.
“Sure,” I told her.
Was she blushing? What was she going to ask?
“It’s so hard being the new girl in school,” she said. “I thought I’d try to make something really special for the school bake sale on Saturday. You know. Try to impress everyone with my school spirit. Rah rah!” She shot up both hands like a cheerleader.
I laughed and waited for her to continue.
“Well…” she hesitated. “Would you come with me after school tomorrow to help me buy supplies? Flour and sugar and stuff? We could go—”
“Of course!” I interrupted.
I felt so excited, I almost blurted out, “No girl ever asked me to go anywhere before!”
But somehow I managed to stay cool enough not to tell her that.
“I’ll meet you behind the playground after school tomorrow,” I said. “We can shop for whatever you need, and I’ll help you carry it all home.”
Big man, huh?
She thanked me, and I jogged down the hall to my locker. I actually felt like skipping—or flying! Iris likes me, I decided. A girl in my school likes me.
You probably think this is no big deal. But it was a very big deal to me.
It changed my whole mood. It made me forget about all the trouble I’d been having. It made me forget I was me!
What a great day! I told myself. What an awesome day!
My happy mood lasted until I opened my locker.
16
Humming to myself, I slipped open the locker door. I squatted down and started to pull some notebooks from the locker floor—when a flash of red caught my eye.
Dripping red. Thick, dripping, red liquid oozing down the side of the locker door.
I gasped. At first I thought it was blood.
Then I quickly realized I was staring at paint. Bright red paint.
I scrambled to my feet—and read the scrawled message someone had painted on the door:
WHEN WILL THE CREEPS MEET?
“Whoa!” I cried out. I poked a finger in the paint and pulled it out smeared with red.
The paint was fresh. The letters dripped down the locker door. Someone had painted it just moments ago.
B
ut who?
And why? Was it supposed to be a joke? What was the funny part?
It was all a mystery to me.
The bright red words glowed angrily out at me. I picked up my backpack and slammed the door.
I didn’t have time to think about it all now. I had to get to class.
That night, the calls started early.
I finished my homework by eight thirty. I was in the den watching a basketball game on TV with my dad. The phone rang, and Dad picked up the cordless phone from the table beside him.
He muttered a few words, then shoved the phone toward me. “It’s for you, Ricky.”
I carried the phone out into the hall to get away from the noise of the basketball game. “Hello?”
“This is a Creep,” a whispered voice replied. “When will the Creeps meet?”
I didn’t say another word. I clicked the phone off and carried it back into the den.
I tried to watch the basketball game. But the phone kept ringing. One whispered voice after another.
“I’m a Creep. I saw your message.”
“Are we ready to plant the seeds?”
“I’m a Creep. When are we meeting?”
This isn’t funny, I thought. This is too strange to be funny.
17
As soon as school let out the next day, I ran to my locker. I stuffed the books I needed for homework into my backpack. Pulled on my blue parka. And ran out to the playground to meet Iris.
Was I a little pumped up?
You guessed it. I couldn’t wait to take Iris shopping for baking supplies. I’ll help her carry it all back to her house, I told myself. And then maybe she’ll ask me to help her bake things for the bake sale.
Iris and I will work together. No girl had ever wanted to work together with me. When Brittany Hopper found out I was going to be her lab partner for frog dissection, she stayed home from school for two weeks!
I had to cut up my frog all by myself. And of course I made a disgusting mess of it.
But Iris was different. Iris was new.
Do they give prizes at bake sales?
Probably not. But if they did, I’m sure Iris and I could win one. And then the other kids in the school would see that I’m not such a loser.
These were my thoughts as I made my way to the back of the playground. I had big plans. Big, BIG plans.
But my plans never came true. No chance.
Because I never met Iris.
I turned to the school to look for her—and Wart, David, Jared, and Brenda jumped me from behind.
“Hey—let go!” I cried. I tried to squirm free.
But they swarmed over me and dragged me off the playground.
“Let go! What are you doing? Give me a break!” I screamed. I twisted and kicked. But I wasn’t strong enough to break free.
They dragged me into the woods across from the playground. My sneakers scraped and slid over the carpet of wet, dead leaves.
They pulled me between the bare trees, trembling in the soft afternoon breeze. A scrawny squirrel scampered in front of us, searching the wintry ground for food.
“What are you going to do?” I cried. “Let me go! I mean it!”
They ignored my cries and dragged me through a clump of tall white weeds. “This way,” David muttered.
He guided us to a line of high evergreen shrubs. Clumps of gray snow clung to the limbs of the shrubs.
Behind the evergreens, we were completely hidden from the street. With a hard tug, I pulled free.
Actually, I think they let me pull free.
I spun around. My eyes searched for the best way to escape. It wouldn’t be easy. The snow-covered evergreen shrubs surrounded us on all four sides.
Wart and his friends stood tensely around me. They stared at me, as if waiting for me to speak.
“Why did you drag me here?” I demanded. I tried to sound calm, but my voice cracked. “What are you going to do to me?”
Their faces remained blank. Stern and serious. They didn’t even laugh when my voice cracked.
Finally, Wart broke the tense silence. “We wouldn’t harm you, Commander,” he said.
I was sure I hadn’t heard him correctly. “Excuse me?” I cried.
“We are the Creeps,” Wart continued.
My mouth dropped open. “So you’re the ones who have been calling me? And sending me messages?”
All four of them nodded solemnly. “Yes, Commander,” Brenda said. She shook off some wet snowflakes that had fallen from the trees onto her long black hair.
“I should have known it was you,” I muttered through clenched teeth.
“Yes. You should have known,” Jared repeated.
“We called as soon as we got your message, Commander,” David chimed in.
“What is this ‘Commander’ stuff?” I snapped. “Why are you calling me that?”
“We didn’t guess that you were the Commander,” Wart replied. “If we had known who you were, we never would have teased you and played mean jokes.”
“Please accept our apology, Commander,” Brenda added. “We are so sorry.”
“You should have made yourself known to us sooner,” David said.
“Yes. Now we must act quickly,” Wart added.
“What are you talking about?” I screamed. “What is your problem?”
Were they trying to drive me crazy? What was this stupid new game about?
“I have to meet someone,” I told them impatiently. “I don’t have time for dumb games.”
Some kids in my school were into fantasy games. They spent hours and hours role-playing characters in different fantasy worlds. You know. With dragons and elves and things.
But I never saw Wart and his pals playing those games.
So what on earth did they think they were doing now?
I knew it was all a stupid joke. It had to be a joke.
So why weren’t they laughing? Why did they appear so grim?
Brenda trained her round dark eyes on me. “You no longer have to pretend,” she said. “Now that we know you are the Commander, we must act quickly.”
“We Creeps have so little time,” Wart said, his eyes also locked on mine.
“It is urgent,” David added. “That is why we have been calling you. To meet as soon as possible.”
I saw the squirrel poking its head out from behind the evergreen shrub on the end. I wondered if I made a run for it, could I escape?
“Commander, we cannot understand why you have been delaying,” Brenda said.
“Guys, this isn’t funny—” I started.
They nodded solemnly. “We know,” Jared said softly. “We have so little time to complete our mission.”
Mission? Had they all totally lost it?
How long had it taken them to dream up this dumb joke? Did they really think I would buy it?
“What is the point of this?” I demanded.
“The Identity Seeds will grow stale in one week,” Brenda said.
“We have so little time to plant them,” David added fretfully. “So little time to turn everyone in the school into Creeps.”
“Seeds? Plant seeds?” I laughed. What else could I do? I laughed in their faces. “Am I going crazy, or are you?” I asked.
“If we do not plant the seeds in time…” Wart started. But his voice trailed off before he finished his sentence.
Brenda picked up where Wart left off. “If we fail to plant the Identity Seeds,” she said, keeping her eyes on me, “our mission will fail.”
Wart placed a hand on my shoulder and gazed at me solemnly. “And of course, Commander, you know what will happen to you if the mission fails.” He made a slicing motion across his throat.
A heavy silence fell over the woods. A burst of wind shook snow off the evergreens. I suddenly felt cold all over.
Brenda reached into her backpack. She pulled out a clear plastic bag and raised it toward me. “I have the Identity Seeds with me, Commander,” she announced.
&n
bsp; I studied the seeds inside the bag. They looked exactly like chocolate chips.
“As you know, Commander, every student must eat a seed,” Wart said. “It takes only one seed to turn a human into a Creep.”
“The Creeps must rule!” Jared declared loudly.
“Humans are the past!” Brenda cried, raising the bag of seeds high. “Creeps are the future!”
All four of them cheered. And as they cheered, they began to change—into MONSTERS!
18
“Creeps rule! Creeps rule!” they chanted.
I stared in horror as their faces twisted and their bodies began to transform.
Bumps popped out all over their heads. Bumps about the size of quarters rose up on their arms and hands.
Their skin began to darken. In seconds, they were all bright purple. The big purple bumps trembled and shook on their skin.
Their faces stretched. Their hair disappeared into their purple skulls. Their eyes sank into their flat, purple heads.
Long, ropy tongues flicked from between jagged rows of teeth. Bumpy purple tongues, glistening as they whipped them from side to side.
I stared at them, unable to move, unable to run. Unable to take my eyes off the four creatures. Bumpy lizard creatures.
Creeps.
They grunted and wheezed. Their eyes rolled wetly. Their long snouts dripped. Their lizardy jaws snapped open and shut.
“NOOOO!” I cried out as Wart sprang at me.
I thought he was attacking.
But he scrambled past me—and grabbed the scrawny squirrel between both purple hands. Instantly, his jaws flew open, and he stuffed the squirrel inside.
He swallowed it without chewing. The furry tail slid down last.
His bumpy tongue licked his wet lips. “Sorry there wasn’t enough to share.” He grinned at the others.
“How was it?” Brenda hissed.
“A little dry,” Wart replied.
“I don’t like them with the skin on,” Jared chimed in.
For some reason, that made them all laugh. Ugly, dry laughs that sounded like choking.
All four of them flicked out their long, bumpy tongues and slapped each other’s tongues, as if slapping high fives.